Freethought & Rationalism Archive

Roland · 05-09-2003, 04:12 PM

If there are intelligent beings on other planets, here are a few theological questions that Christians might have to wrangle with:

Do these beings have souls?

Are they "fallen" creatures like us or might they have been able to pass their own version of the Adam and Eve "test" and remained "perfect"?

If they are "fallen," would Christ have to go and die to achieve their salvation as well?

What if they turn out to have a completely different religious system from ours? Would that make the Judeo/Christian belief system more questionable?

Yellum Notnef · 05-09-2003, 04:51 PM

Quote:

Originally posted by Roland

What if they turn out to have a completely different religious system from ours? Would that make the Judeo/Christian belief system more questionable?

Nah. We'll go to their planet,beat them into submission and then ridicule away their inferior belief system while replacing it with our own.

Paperstreet · 05-09-2003, 05:46 PM

We will try to convert them. Sadly...

Abacus · 05-09-2003, 07:26 PM

Maybe the ETs would take one look at the plethora of religions we have (Christianity, Islam, Hinduism, and many more!) and realize that concerning religion, humanity doesn't have a fucking clue about what they are talking about.

Paperstreet · 05-09-2003, 07:35 PM

Maybe they will admit to making us. Now THAT would stir things up down here.

bocajeff · 05-09-2003, 08:55 PM

I would think it would probably depend on how advanced they were. And possibly how human like they are. Chances are though, to avoid any theological problems regarding salvation of beings light years away, xtians will just count them as animals and not worry about their souls assuming theists think they even have them.

Marduk · 05-10-2003, 07:56 AM

"Maybe they will admit to making us. Now THAT would stir things up down here"

Who in their right mind would admit to that!?

Alien guy: "uh what? create you guys, um.. no... uh ...that was someone else, yeah that's the ticket, some other guys did that, umm they aren't here right now, gee where are those guys? not us though, we didn't do it, no way, it was those other guys see"

Seriously though, I did read a lot of accounts from alien �abductees' that were allegedly told by aliens that they believe in God, but not a chummy personal God like Christians do, just a generic �prime mover� sort of God. �Reincarnation is the mechanism of the Universe� they supposedly said. FWIW

AdamWho · 05-10-2003, 11:17 AM

Doesn't Mormonism cover the issue of unconverted aliens? It seems that Jesus visits all the inhabited planets. Jesus is back and he is taking his "dying for your sins show" all over the universe, playing on a planet near you. It might make a good sci-fi story.

It seems that us discovering intelligent life on another planet is a long way off. I can imagine that the world religions we know now will be the same that far into the future.

If they discover us though, I think they will be thought by some Christians of as demons disguised as nice aliens and the whole thing will be framed as an end-times scenario. The Christians will try to force the world into a war with the aliens to kick off revelations.

Pyrrho · 05-10-2003, 03:11 PM

Quote:

Originally posted by Paperstreet
Maybe they will admit to making us. Now THAT would stir things up down here.

You mean the result of a mistake in a child's science project?

05-09-2003, 04:12 PM	#1
Roland Senior Member Join Date: Mar 2003 Location: California Posts: 748	What If We Discover Intelligent Life on Other Planets? If there are intelligent beings on other planets, here are a few theological questions that Christians might have to wrangle with: Do these beings have souls? Are they "fallen" creatures like us or might they have been able to pass their own version of the Adam and Eve "test" and remained "perfect"? If they are "fallen," would Christ have to go and die to achieve their salvation as well? What if they turn out to have a completely different religious system from ours? Would that make the Judeo/Christian belief system more questionable?

05-09-2003, 07:26 PM	#4
Abacus Veteran Member Join Date: Mar 2002 Location: South Dakota Posts: 2,214	Re: What If We Discover Intelligent Life on Other Planets? Maybe the ETs would take one look at the plethora of religions we have (Christianity, Islam, Hinduism, and many more!) and realize that concerning religion, humanity doesn't have a fucking clue about what they are talking about.

Thread Tools	Search this Thread
Show Printable Version	Search this Thread: Advanced Search

05-09-2003, 05:46 PM	#3
Paperstreet Regular Member Join Date: Apr 2003 Location: Maryland Posts: 175	We will try to convert them. Sadly...

05-09-2003, 07:35 PM	#5
Paperstreet Regular Member Join Date: Apr 2003 Location: Maryland Posts: 175	Maybe they will admit to making us. Now THAT would stir things up down here.

05-09-2003, 08:55 PM	#6
bocajeff Veteran Member Join Date: Jan 2002 Location: HelL.A. Posts: 1,157	I would think it would probably depend on how advanced they were. And possibly how human like they are. Chances are though, to avoid any theological problems regarding salvation of beings light years away, xtians will just count them as animals and not worry about their souls assuming theists think they even have them.

05-10-2003, 07:56 AM	#7
Marduk Veteran Member Join Date: Aug 2000 Location: the 10th planet Posts: 5,065	"Maybe they will admit to making us. Now THAT would stir things up down here" Who in their right mind would admit to that!? Alien guy: "uh what? create you guys, um.. no... uh ...that was someone else, yeah that's the ticket, some other guys did that, umm they aren't here right now, gee where are those guys? not us though, we didn't do it, no way, it was those other guys see" Seriously though, I did read a lot of accounts from alien �abductees' that were allegedly told by aliens that they believe in God, but not a chummy personal God like Christians do, just a generic �prime mover� sort of God. �Reincarnation is the mechanism of the Universe� they supposedly said. FWIW

05-10-2003, 11:17 AM	#8
AdamWho Contributor Join Date: May 2001 Location: San Jose, CA Posts: 13,389	Doesn't Mormonism cover the issue of unconverted aliens? It seems that Jesus visits all the inhabited planets. Jesus is back and he is taking his "dying for your sins show" all over the universe, playing on a planet near you. It might make a good sci-fi story. It seems that us discovering intelligent life on another planet is a long way off. I can imagine that the world religions we know now will be the same that far into the future. If they discover us though, I think they will be thought by some Christians of as demons disguised as nice aliens and the whole thing will be framed as an end-times scenario. The Christians will try to force the world into a war with the aliens to kick off revelations.

Freethought & Rationalism Archive

The archives are read only.